The Best Men’s Colognes to Gift This Year

Since it’s such a personal accessory, men’s colognes can be a challenging item to give as a gift. The wrong fragrance can feel like wearing someone else’s clothes. But as one of the more indulgent items in the grooming arsenal, colognes and perfumes can be the perfect way to treat a loved one.

Choosing Men’s Colognes

If you’re buying a cologne for someone who already wears fragrance, you’ll have a strong head start for sensing their style—use what they already wear as a guide to pick something that fits into their collection. If they don’t own any perfume or cologne already, consider the other items in their routine: what scents of soaps, candles, or lotions do they already use? Do their tastes lean fresh and citrusy or deep and woodsy?

Also take into account where they might wear these scents. Someone choosing a cologne to wear for the office might prefer a more minimal, sheer scent while those looking for a special occasion scent can afford to be a bit bolder.

There’s no right or wrong when it comes to men’s colognes, and so we’ve curated a roundup of scents to suit all tastes, including both new releases for the season and a few classics. The picks below range from fresh, bright eau de colognes to edgy modern scents based on leather and smoke. If you’re struggling to commit to a full bottle as a gift, many brands offer travel and discovery sets to let you try a handful of fragrances at once (and maybe next year you can gift the full-sized bottle of the scent your recipient loved the most).

Read on for our picks of the best men’s colognes to gift this holiday season. And remember, you don’t have to save these for the people on your list: perhaps you’ll find a gift to suit yourself, too.